POSITION FILLED
Project Title
Polymer-surfactant interactions investigated by Taylor dispersion analysis and Dynamic light scattering
Research Team: DSBC team, Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron
Project Duration: February 2019 – July 2019
Manager: Joseph Chamieh
Research Project
Interactions between water-soluble polymers and surfactants have been extensively studied as they are relevant in many industrial applications. In aqueous solution, surfactant molecules aggregate to form micelles at the critical micelle concentration (cmc). The presence of polymers, whose backbones contain some degree of hydrophobicity, induce the aggregation of surfactant micelles onto the polymer chains at a concentration below the cmc, called the critical aggregation concentration (cac). This type of interactions is important from an industrial point of view, and is normally studied by using DLS, conductimetry (for charged surfactants), or even ITC which is a more sophisticated technique. In this work, the trainee will contribute to assess the impact of Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) to the study of the polymer-surfactant interactions, the main advantage of TDA is that it can size small molecules (on the contrary to DLS), can be universal (as compared to conductimetry), simple to realize (as compared to ITC) and in the same experiment the viscosity of the system is investigated. The results will be compared to those obtained by DLS. The studied systems will be systems relevant to industrial applications.
Candidate Profile
The candidate must be motivated by this topic at the interface between analytical chemistry and physical-chemistry. She or he must be preparing a master’s degree in analytical chemistry or physical-chemistry (or equivalent e.g. Engineer).
To apply: please send your resume and a motivation letter accompanied with one or two recommendation letters. You must apply exclusively by email at joseph.chamieh@umontpellier.fr
Please indicate in the mail subject “Application- Traineeship Labex Chemisyst”; deadline for application 31st December 2018.
A good English level is required.
This traineeship benefits from the financial support of LabEx CheMISyst through the National Research Agency under the program “ Investissements d’Avenir ” (reference: ANR-10-LABX-05-01) for a period of 6 months.
